{"id":637225,"date":"2026-05-11T20:39:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/637225\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T20:39:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T20:39:08","slug":"wings-azzi-fudd-gets-bad-news-about-joining-dallas-starting-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/637225\/","title":{"rendered":"Wings\u2019 Azzi Fudd gets bad news about joining Dallas\u2019 starting lineup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wings\u2019 Azzi Fudd gets bad news about joining Dallas\u2019 starting lineup<\/a> originally appeared on The Sporting News<\/a>. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Azzi Fudd probably isn’t going to be starting for the Dallas Wings<\/a> any time soon.<\/p>\n

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Fudd’s inauspicious WNBA debut caught many by surprise, as the no.1 overall draft pick came off the bench and scored only three points in 18 minutes against the Indiana Fever<\/a>. The Wings won, 107-104, but Fudd attempted just two shots and no top overall pick ever has scored fewer points in her debut<\/a>.<\/p>\n

MORE:\u00a0Azzi Fudd\u2019s quiet WNBA debut won\u2019t change the bigger picture for Dallas<\/a><\/p>\n

While head coach Jose Fernandez isn’t fazed by Fudd’s slow start, he is not ready to commit to starting the former UConn star against the Atlanta Dream<\/a> on Tuesday night.<\/p>\n

“Is she capable of (starting)? Yes, she is,” first-year coach Fernandez told the media on Monday. “When it does happen, I think she’ll be ready.”<\/p>\n

Refusing to put a timeline on Fudd’s first WNBA start could be considered a good thing for her development. In the Wings’ deep backcourt — highlighted by Paige Bueckers<\/a> and Arike Ogunbowale<\/a> — Fudd won’t face as much pressure to contribute immediately, and Dallas will take the long view in developing her.<\/p>\n

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Fernandez also admitted he has to scheme differently for Fudd when she’s on the floor.<\/p>\n

“I gotta get her more involved, get her some looks, but you got to give other teams credit too,” he said Monday<\/a>. “Other teams prepare for really good players.\u201d<\/p>\n

But it’s clear to the Wings’ coaching staff that Fudd — regarded as an elite, if not generational, shooting prospect — just isn’t ready yet. That stance will lend itself to more questions about Dallas’ process in landing on Fudd as the top pick last month.<\/p>\n

More WNBA news:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wings\u2019 Azzi Fudd gets bad news about joining Dallas\u2019 starting lineup originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[2832,3444,16393,2834,2839,135061,2833,99,5623,434],"class_list":["post-637225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wnba","tag-arike-ogunbowale","tag-atlanta-dream","tag-azzi-fudd","tag-dallas-wings","tag-indiana-fever","tag-jose-fernandez","tag-paige-bueckers","tag-sports","tag-starting-lineup","tag-wnba"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}